Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bruce had been lord of Wayne manor ever since his parents death fifteen years ago, but now after returning to England he found himself being forced to deal with Alfred forcing him to deal with the marriage mart. He knew he should have moved on after what happened ten years ago, but the idea of betraying his first love by marrying another has his stomach twisting in knots.

As he ends up at Lady Prince’s ball he’s lucky enough to meet the hostesses unmarried daughter Diana. While he certainly doesn’t plan to marry, spending the evening being forced to dance with every debutante that came his way is certainly less likely if he’s already spending time with another. Diana informs him early on about her unofficial engagement, attempting to get rid of him, and instead they become fast friends who bond over their disinterest in marrying at the moment.

The season is going better, with a new friend to entertain him during events. This is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of Clark Kent, his childhood friend and the love of his life. Ten years ago he had been ready to ask for the man’s hand in marriage despite his lack of a title and money. They had been in love, or so he thought. Then Clark had abandoned him, leaving Bruce to pick up the shattered pieces of his heart.

The event had destroyed Bruce so thoroughly that he had left for the continent and been traveling ever since. He had never learned the reason for Clark’s change of heart but he had mourned what they had lost. The only thing the man had given him was a single letter rescinding his love and damning Bruce to a life without him.

Despite his cruelty Clark still has Bruce’s heart, and now as he stares across the room at the man he has to hold himself back from begging the man to take him back. He stays strong only just barely and is rewarded with Clark returning his gaze and reacting in shock. The drink in the other man’s hand spills, barely missing the dress of his companion.

Bruce turns away, looking to Diana and hoping the woman could distract him from doing anything embarrassing. He soon is embroiled in a talk on haberdashery and how difficult it was to find a certain shade for her silk ribbon on the hat she would wear to a garden party later in the week. As such he didn’t notice Clark’s approach until the man announced himself and came up behind Bruce.

“Lord Wayne, it’s been quite some time since we last spoke.”

Bruce froze desperately trying not to fall for Clarks charms, his sweetly honey voice tempting him to forget the man’s abandonment from years ago. Before he could speak Diana cut in with a waspish remark.

“Don’t you think Mr. Kent that it’s quite rude to reestablish connections for mercenary purposes?”

Bruce had no idea what she meant by such a comment but by the flush on Clark’s face she had touched upon a sore subject.

“Perhaps Lady Diana I merely meant to  greet an old friend. I hadn’t thought one financial state affected their ability to be polite.”

Bruce was getting a clearer picture and was rather disheartened. He had thought Clark had changed his mind, had maybe wanted to give him another chance. Instead, by the sounds of things, the man wanted to marry him to resolve some financial issue he had. It stung Bruce to know he was nothing but his money to Clark now, when all those years ago it felt like Clark was the only person he didn’t care about his title or wealth.

Even worse he felt disgusted that he would take Clark now, even knowing of his true interest, if only to have the man in his life. He had lost his pride long ago and was set on not losing this chance. He wishes Diana weren’t present to see him stoop so low, but at least she knew about his past with Clark. She wouldn’t really expect better from him.

“And I’m happy that you decided to do so, Clark. Would you join me for the next dance?”

Clark seemed stunned but replied in the affirmative. A few minutes later they were on the floor, dancing to a waltz and catching up. It tok=ok very little cajoling from Bruce to get Clark to relax and soon he was recounting his time on the continent while they spun on the floor.

As the season was nearing its end they got engaged much to Diana and Alfred’s disapproval. He knew they meant well, but it still hurt that they didn’t believe him when he said Clark made him happy. The man wasn’t looking for money to pay off debts acquired from gambling, but instead to help his parents whose farm had been struggling ever since his father fell ill.

While the Kents were uncertain about the marriage they had given Bruce their blessing and helped plan the wedding. He had wanted a small ceremony but thanks to being the most eligible bachelor of the season he had been forced to deal with a great portion of the ton. Thankfully the ceremony was straightforward and before he knew it, it was over and he was married.

The reception was longer than he thought was necessary but eventually it was over. All he wanted was to go to sleep and not think about how despite having Clark in marriage, he didn’t have the man’s heart. He didn’t know how to get Clark to love him again, but he was desperate to have things as they were before.

So, despite his fears, when he arrived to their shared chambers he asked the question that had haunted him for the past ten years.

“Why did you write me that letter?”

Clark freezes, a grimace marring his angelic features for a moment before he replies.

“It’s a bit embarrassing but,” he pauses as he sits upon the bed and stares at the floor as he continues, “I had thought you were in love with me the entire summer. We had known each other so long and yet I was sure that you felt something more. So, when you actually started courting me I was ready to marry you. I was so in love with you, then I saw you kissing Selina Kyle at your garden party. I felt so betrayed that I wrote that letter to end things. I didn’t realize you would leave the country.”

Bruce is shocked. He remembers the kiss and how Selina had declared her romantic feelings for him. It had been awkward because he had rejected her right after and they didn’t speak for two weeks after that. Eventually he had received a letter from her while traveling, free of any mention of the kiss and they had returned to their friendship.

“That wasn’t what it looked like. She had-”

“I know,” Clark interrupts, “after you left I asked her about the kiss and she told me what had actually happened. I was so upset but since you had left I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me.”

Bruce pulls him in for a gentle kiss, not wanting to be apart a second longer. 

“I love you Clark. I loved you back then, I’ve loved you every moment we’ve been apart, and I’ll love you for the rest of my life.

“I love you too.”

And so they spend their wedding night rekindling their love for one another. In the morning Bruce writes to Diana to tell her of his news and by the evening she and Clark have become friends. Bruce ends the second night of his marriage wrapped up in Clark’s embrace, happier than he’s ever been.

Chapter Text

     When the war against the British ended, Bruce had been only nine years old and his parents had been alive. Now he’s running their family estate with all the upheaval of the war making way for harsh realities. The people of Gotham were his to protect and lead, like his parents before him. Not by force as a tyrant king, but instead as it’s protector and provider.

     He had been working with their states representatives but their small city was struggling with a massive surge in crime. He felt out of his depth when he started working on things ten years ago, but now things have improved. The crime was still an issue, but with the small amount of change they had been able to make to the cities infrastructure things were improving.

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     Miles away, in what would one day be called Kansas a Kryptonian had landed. Kal-El had spent the past months sleeping in the pod he had created with his parents. When they realized their planet was dying his father had gone to the council to make them see reason, instead he had spent two month on house arrest working on the pod.

     Kal and his mother had helped but with so little time they barely finished the one pod before the planet exploded. His parents had hugged him goodbye, wishing him luck on his journey and then there was nothing. He had seen Krypton’s destruction, and then been faced with the empty expanse of space. He had turned on the sleep cycle and spent the remainder of his time resting in preparation for his arrival to Earth.

     He knew a bit about the planet, mostly that the yellow sun of the solar system would effect him in some way, granting him abilities. He didn’t know where he had landed but hoped his translator chip would allow him to communicate with the locals of wherever he landed. Stepping out of his pod he finds himself in a clearing surrounded by humans.

“Hello,” he greeted hoping they wouldn’t attack before he could explain himself. They seemed normal enough, resembling Kryptonians in their appearance though their clothing was different. One of the men stepped forward and spoke.

“What brings you here?”

“I’m sorry to have startled you, I just came to seek a new home. Mine was sadly destroyed.”

     The man turns back to the rest of the group to discuss and that’s when Kal notices the strange powers. The sounds of their voices is amplified to painful levels before he can hear the beating of their hearts. The overwhelming experience passes as he blocks it all out.

“You’re clearly not from here,” the man says as he returns, “but there are others that look like you farther east, or so we’ve heard. Go there.”

“Thank you,” Kal says before turning to look at the pod. He doesn’t know how he’s going to drag the thing along but he’d feel rude just leaving it for them to deal with. He decided to check it’s weight and is astonished to find it lighter than a feather. He lifts it over his head and begins walking in the direction indicated.

     He supposes he got rather lucky to bump into friendly locals, but he can’t let his guard down. The next group of humans may not be quite as friendly. He tries jogging and soon finds himself speeding across the land. He has to stop when his vision goes out of control, and he even shoots beam from his eyes in his frustration.

     Eventually he gets both under control and continues on, hopefully not to far off track. He ends up finding a settlement soon enough, and decides to dig a hole outside it first to drop the pod in. He figures it’s safe for now and focuses on studying the people around him.

     They’re dressed differently from the previous group of humans, and yet not like Kryptonians either. The small city is filled with people so he decides to quickly steal some clothes off a line to disguise himself and see what they’re like. Who knows, they might be friendly.

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     Kal is quickly disabused of the notion that Gothamites are friendly within a few hours, but before he can skip town and give another place a try he bumps into Bruce Wayne. The man had stepped out of his carriage and been on his way to see his lawyer when Kal had been distracted by his hearing overworking again.

     The human had saved him from a fall and Kal had been more or less instantly smitten with the man. He hadn’t meant to blush and stammer, but by the time he was capable of being coherent the man had apologized and walked off. Kal didn’t know what to do but he knew he couldn’t leave before he saw the man again.

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     Bruce rushes away from the most handsome man he’s ever seen. He can’t let himself be tempted by the man not with how busy he is. After losing his parents he’s struggled to open up to caring about people. He had avoided marriage out of fear of leaving a child orphaned by his death, and then Dick had arrived in his life.

     The little boy had wormed his way into Bruce’s heart and now he’s ready to finish the adoption process. He can’t get distracted by gorgeous strangers. He needed- Wait! Were was the document? He had been walking to get the last paper notarized at his lawyers office, and he had left the carriage with the document. Now it was gone. Where-

“Excuse me, I believe you dropped this.” the stranger from before stood before him holding out one of the most important papers in Bruce’s life. He quickly takes it, muttering out a thank you as he turns to stay focused.

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     Kal couldn’t believe his luck over the next month. It felt like every other day he would bump into Bruce Wayne. He would either being going to the store at the same time as Kal or they’d both be walking down the same street.

     The best moment has to be at the end of the month though, when he had been passing through the border of the woods and saw a child jumping from tree to tree. The boy seemed to know what he was doing, but when he caught himself on a branch, Kal heard it snap. He doesn’t even think before he’d zooming across the clearing and catching the boy.

     Just as he does he sees Bruce, his eyes wide, clearly having seen Kal use his powers. The boy doesn’t seem to notice as he thanks Kal and gets to his feet, heading towards Bruce. The man is still staring in shock at Kal when the boy gets to him.

“B, B, did you see that? The man over there just saved me.”

“Yes Dick, I saw,” Bruce says his shell-shocked look morphing into a more calculating one.

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     The next thing Kal knows he’s sitting to dinner in Wayne manor, learning about Bruce and Dick’s relationship. Bruce had insisted on Kal joining the family for dinner in thanks for saving his son, and with how captivated Kal was he couldn’t resist. It didn’t help that he had to control himself as they ate, not wanting to crush the cutlery as he watched Bruce eat in a ridiculously seductive manner.

     He dragged his eyes from the man’s lips and focused on Dick as the boy spoke of his plans for the next day. He seemed to have made friends and was going to get up to some mischief with them, much to Bruce’s exasperation. Kal was more amused then anything, remembering his own escapades at the boys age.

     The thought reminded him of his planet and all he had lost. The expression on his face must have shown his pain as Bruce asked him what distressed him so. He described his situation, spending time reliving the beauty of his home planet, and his love for his family and friends.

     The pair were evidently surprised to learn of his origins, but were quick to console him and share their own sad tales. They end dinner on a hopeful note, reminded to cherish the things they had before they were gone. Bruce asked him to walk the grounds as Dick disappeared into the depths house.

     The gardens around the house were lovely, and as they walked the pair began to banter slowly getting closer until they brushed hands as they walked. Bruce flushed and pulled his hand away, but Kal could hear as his heart began to race. He stopped, gently caressing Bruce’s face before leaning into to kiss him.

     Before their lips could meet Bruce pulled away, dashing Kal’s hopes that the other man felt the same way he did, the same magnetic pull. As though he could hear the thoughts in Kal’s mind Bruce turned back to him, squared his shoulders and leaned in to gently kiss Kal. The chapped but firm lips pressed into his for a moment before Bruce pulled back a bit, but Kal couldn’t end it there. He pulled the other man back in, his tongue caressing the seam of Bruce’s mouth before their tongues met at last.

     They stood there kissing for what felt like a tiny eternity, and when they eventually parted Bruce panted softly, his face flushed from their passionate interlude even as Kal’s own body showed no signs of how completely Bruce had wrecked him. He pulled fully away, and turned to leave knowing that in the morning he would likely be met with Bruce’s regret. 

“Don’t,” the grip of Bruce’s hand would have been easy to escape of there had been a single cell in Kal’s body that wanted to be anywhere but there in that moment.

     He faced the human once more, and found himself being led into the house. They travelled to the third floor, and crept down the carpeted hallway until they arrived at the master suite.

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     Bruce doesn’t know what made him think sleeping with the handsome stranger that he couldn’t seem to avoid was a good idea. One second Kal had been leaning in to kiss him and his logic was pulling him away and the next the kicked puppy look on Kal’s face had him kissing the man instead. 

     The fact that he finds himself wrapped in Kal’s warm arms as he awakes doesn’t really help him feel any remorse. Their relationship may be a distraction from his goals but the idea of leaving is far from tempting in thai moment. He turns over and cuddles in closer wanting to just bask in the other man for a little longer, which of course is when his son decides to rush into the room and throw himself on the bed.

     Kal is quick to use his superspeed to dress and remove himself from the bed, but Dick is still fully aware of what he just walked in on. The boy throws himself off the bed and pouts as he forced to go back outside so Bruce can prepare for the day.

     The three of them go down to breakfast and as they walk Dick explains how Alfred had announced they would be having a party the next night to celebrate something. The older man wouldn’t tell him what until Bruce had joined them but Dick knew it had something to do with a letter that had arrived in the mail this morning. The boy was bouncing as he walked, excited to discover what the letter said.

     Bruce knew it was probably the paper making Dick officially his son, but he wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for the boy. They had discussed the adoption at length when two years had passed of Dick being his ward, and he had wanted to give the boy a choice in the matter. The party was to allow Bruce to tell all of Gotham’s elite society that Dick was officially his son. The people had been a bit cold towards him initially, but Dick had won them over with his charm.

     He wondered if Kal would join them for the party or if he needed anything to wear. He would get to work on that as soon as they finished breakfast he decided. As they sat Alfred placed the letter in his hand so that he could open it right away. He did and after confirming that it was what he expected, he passed it to Dick so the boy could read it himself.

     The shouts of joy his son let out at finally having the paper were met with warm smiles from the three men. The breakfast was still warm as they began their meal and Bruce contemplated what it would take to keep Kal in their lives. From the besotted look on the man’s face Bruce thought he wouldn’t have to try to hard to drag him into their little family.

Chapter Text

Clark Kent had been fighting fires in Metropolis for about a year and a half when he decided it was time for a change. The reason for his move from the city to Gotham came shortly after a brief encounter, but if anyone asked Clark in the weeks leading up to his first day on the job in Gotham he would have told them the same reason: “I just want a change of pace”.

It wasn’t a complete lie either, the allure of a new place and new problems was definitely exciting. But the catalyst for this change had occurred when he’d been putting out a fire, and fate had brought him a certain doctor. The Wayne Enterprises office building had caught on fire early in the morning, just before most employees arrived, and by chance their handsome CEO who Clark had been a fan of for years had reported the blaze. This meant that when Clark had arrived with the others to put out the rather massive fire they were lucky enough not to have to worry about any people who might be inside, but they also had a bit of a crowd as most of the employees had chosen to stay and watch them work.

The fire was dealt with rather quickly all things considered but over the course of their work, the fire had managed to burst a few windows allowing glass to rain down on Clark and his coworkers. Being invulnerable meant he didn’t really need to worry about it, but sadly Bruce Wayne CEO and doctor was not about to let any of them leave without ensuring they received proper medical care first.

Clark panicked a bit about the small cuts that he lacked as his coworkers bandaged their wounds. Bruce checked them all over as they cleaned up, before making his way towards Clark. The man was only doing a peripheral sweep of them but he stopped when he noticed Clark just standing there.

“Aren’t you hurt?” the man asked, his icy blue eyes pinning Clark in place.

“Oh, no I guess I got lucky. Not a scratch on me.” He hoped that the man wouldn’t call him out on how unlikely that was, and thankfully he didn’t. With one final sweep of his gaze he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Clark felt rather lucky in that moment that he hadn’t been caught but the idea of never seeing the man again filled him with purpose. When he got back, he asked his boss for a transfer as soon as possible and the man thankfully acquiesced. And that’s how Clark found himself in Gotham three months later fighting a warehouse fire.

While growing up Clark had struggled with his powers especially his heat vision which had prompted him to get good at putting out fire. By the time he had graduated high school he knew what he would be doing, and was quick to get his training done so he could get onto the field. His celebrity crush on Bruce Wayne had emerged around the same time as his training began, and while he thought it was a bit crazy he wasn’t going to miss out on another chance to meet the man.

So when two days in a fire occurred in Gotham he was happy to see the man once more, though he did wish it had been in happier circumstances. His coworker had gotten burned while rescuing someone from the burning building and Clark had volunteered to take him to the hospital. When the nurse came by and called his coworker in, Clark had stayed outside to wait in the waiting room to drive the guy back to the station. By chance Dr. Wayne walked through the entrance and as he passed he locked eyes with Clark.

 They didn’t see each other for a few weeks and Clark did his best to put the man out of his mind. He had settled into living in Gotham, dealing with his coworkers, and even handling the sheer amount of crime that everyone around him just dismissed as background noise. Things were going pretty good, until the call came in. He had put out a few small fires in Gotham, and in his year over in Metropolis he had gotten one medium sized one, but getting a call from a school had never happened.

They raced over, relieved to find that most of the students had evacuated before they had even arrived. Clark raced towards the fire while one of his team mates, Jess, went to check if any kids or teachers were unaccounted for. They were making good progress when Jess returned to tell them one of the kids was inside, and before anyone else could, Clark volunteered to go get the student. The homeroom teacher for the boy had come over and quickly described him and where he should be.

He made his way inside, glad he wasn’t being harmed by the fire but trying not to have his uniform be ruined by the heat in a suspiciously non-human way. He carefully used his superspeed to make his way through, putting out parts of the fire with his freeze breath. When he arrived in the hallway he’d been told about, he used his x-ray vision to speed up his search and locked in on the kid almost immediately. He ran over instead of flying, ready to grab the kid and make his way out.

The door to the classroom was open and while flames were engulfing one side of the room and smoke filled the hallway the kid seemed fine. He was trying to work open a window, probably knowing the glass was bulletproof and not likely to break at his hand. The boy had a handkerchief over his nose and mouth, and didn’t seem to hear Clark walk in.

“Hey! Are you Dick?” he called out to the kid over the roar of the flames.

The kid turned and nodded. Seeing that the window led into a central courtyard Clark figured it would be better to evacuate the kid out of the nearest exit. He moved forward raising his arms to scoop the kid up, and while Dick looked frightened for a moment he let himself be carried out. They left the room, turning the way Clark had come. He had seen an exit on his way over, and while Dick probably hadn’t wanted to get burned by running through a fire and trying to open a hot metal door, Clark had no such concerns. Wrapping the kid in a fire safety blanket he quickly raced through the portion of hallway engulfed in fire and smoke.

When he got to the door he made sure to kick the handle open to keep up the ruse that he could even be burned, before he raced over to the teacher from earlier. He deposited the kid with her before going to join in putting out the fire. A few hours later the building was finally done being their problem and all the kids had left with their parents.

As a result of the incident the fire department got asked to come give a fire safety lesson to the students. Clark being new and having been part of the team ended up with the job along with two others. It wasn’t too bad as he had given similar talks in Metropolis, but he hoped no major fires broke out while he was gone.

The day was spent dealing with kids of different grades, explaining basic fire prevention and what to do in case of a fire. He even saw the kid he had saved. Everything was just about wrapped up with Dick class when none other than Bruce Wayne came over. The man looked like he had just come from work at the hospital, his white coat still on atop a blue button up that made his eyes look even bluer. He made his way over and Clark almost forgot to breathe, then Bruce looked at Dick and the moment was broken. The kid jumped up into the man’s arms, calling him dad and Clark remembered the news articles about the two boys Bruce had adopted. 

It was heart warming to see him with his son, and for a moment Clark wished he could have that too. Then he shook himself out of his daydreaming and turned just to get an eyebrow raise from one of his coworkers. Before he could get re-emersed in his work he heard someone call out for his attention. Turning he was once again face-to-face with Bruce Wayne.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to thank you for saving Dick the other day,” the man said.

“It’s no problem,” Clark responded knowing his face was red and that he must have looked flustered but his anxiety only making it worse.

“You should come over for dinner so we can thank you,” Dick chimed in.

“Oh that’s kind but I couldn’t possibly-”

“Dick you can’t just invite people-”

They both stopped, before Bruce started again.

“While I can’t invite you to the manor for dinner, I would be more than happy to take you out to dine somewhere in town.”

Clark froze as he internally freaked out. He couldn’t say no to what sounded like a date but he also didn’t know if he should go. What if it was a disaster? He pushed his doubt aside and let himself have this.

“Sure. Just let me know when and where and I’ll be happy to go.”

“Why don’t we exchange numbers?”

And that’s how he found himself across from Bruce Wayne, eating dinner in an upscale restaurant that was way out of his price range, slowly falling deeper and deeper in love with this seemingly perfect man. He didn’t hesitate to go up to Bruce’s penthouse with him, or to jump into the man’s bed, but the next morning he had to wonder if this was a huge mistake as he ate breakfast that had been prepared by Bruce’s butler. The man, Alfred, had arrived sometime in the morning and Clark could only be thankful he had chosen to get dressed before coming to the kitchen to make some coffee.

It could have been worse. He had coffee, good food, and Bruce Wayne still hadn’t kicked him out and told him this had been a fling and to lose his number. Getting asked on his way out if he’d be free for lunch later in the week was definitely more than he could have hoped for, so he made sure to agree before Bruce changed his mind.

The weeks that followed were much the same. Dates, flowers delivered to his house, and some nights they’d end up in the same bed. Things were practically perfect, he just hadn’t met Bruce’s family yet.

Chapter Text

Kal couldn’t tell when it happened exactly, but he had gone to sleep with Bruce in their bed, and had woken up in a similar configuration, but a drastically different room. The bed was different, the room as well, and before he could get a grasp on where they were, a knock came at the door. He figured it was Dick or Jason, their new son.

He opened the door to find an unknown girl. She didn’t seem surprised to see him, but she did look his clothes over as though they were peculiar.

“Clark I know you and B are old, but I didn’t think you wore pjs out of the regency era or something.”

He had no idea what she was talking about, but given her own strange attire he supposed they were having a cultural misunderstanding. The fact that she called him by the wrong name and yet maybe knew Bruce was odd.

“I’m sorry but who are you and where am I?”

Her eyes widened in shock before she called out, “Bruce, wake up Clark’s acting amnesiatic and I don’t know why?”

The man jumped awake at her yell, making his way over quickly, though the sight of his attire seemed to worry the girl even further.

“Oh no, why are you wearing weird pajamas too?”

“I’m sorry but who are you?” Bruce asked in a sleep roughed voice.

“I’m Stephanie- Steph your- you know what I’m calling your parents. If both of you are having amnesia it can’t be good.”

“My parents?” Bruce asked, his voice shocked as he hadn’t seen them in over a decade.

Steph didn’t seem to pay him any mind as she raced out to find them. They went to prepare for the day neither wanting to be seen in such disarray by Bruce’s parents. The room that adjoined theirs was strange, containing contraptions that neither had seen though after so trial and error their functions became apparent. Once they had finished they made their way towards the other room, this one filled with clothes. The clothing was strange, some resembling what the girl had worn with its loose designs and other being made of a variety of materials.

They grabbed pairs of the loose trousers, easily slipping them on, and each grabbed a different soft shirt. They made their way out to the hall, only to find a young man. He looked at them strangely but before he could question them Steph was returning Bruce’s parents. At least Kal assumed they were the man’s parents given their resemblance to the portrait and to Bruce himself.

The group spoke for some time, the young man introducing himself as Jason much to their shock. They ended up going down to breakfast where it seemed a small army of children awaited them. Bruce looked overwhelmed by the sheer amount, but Kal was quick to confirm that they were in fact his and Bruce’s children before beginning to eat.

The rest of the day was spent being followed by one or two of the children, their lack of knowledge slowly diminishing as they had one new invention after another explained. Bruce was enchanted by his parents, spending the day asking them all sorts of questions and in turn learning about the version of himself that lived in this place. Kal was happy to hear that the other version of him was also Kryptonian and that he had just arrived on the planet sooner and therefore been raised by humans.

It was fascinating to hear the tales, and an hour after they had awoken Dick arrived to join them. He and Bruce spent the majority of the day being teased by the children for their lack of technological savvy and ‘silly’ way of speaking. It was nice though, especially getting to see Bruce so happy surrounded by a family. It made him want to work on expanding their own when they returned to their time.

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Bruce knew something wasn’t quite right when he woke up. Part of it was the lack of his children, the large group meaning that he was more often than not awakened by a knock at his door or a knee to the gut as one climbed on him. They could always climb Clark without hurting him but no, they insisted on climbing him. And perhaps he treasured the little bruises as he went about his day, but that wasn’t something he wanted advertised to the little menaces.

So when he awoke to the sun lighting the room through the curtains, on an unfamiliar bed he knew something was wrong. He got up, looked around and wondered if he had sleepwalked into a historical recreation of Wayne Manor. He took a quick look around, peaking through the window, but nothing seemed amiss besides the fact that he was in some strange version of his room. He got ready, found old timey clothes and then stepped outside in search of his family.

Most of the kids' rooms were empty, but when he got to Jason and Dick’s doors he found each boy where they were supposed to be, though significantly younger. He returned to the bedroom to wake Clark and see if he had any ideas. He returned to thankfully find his husband had gotten ready as well, and the two made their way downstairs in search of any other occupants of the house.

They found Alfred working on breakfast as they walked into the kitchen, and the pair were quick to walk over to ask what was going on. The older man explained that the year was 1798. The shock was quick to wear off and by the time he and Clark were able to accept their strange predicament, the boys came downstairs to join them.

After Dick and Jason found out about the change the boys were eager to know about the future, something both he and Clark discouraged and worked hard to conceal. It helped that they couldn’t be certain what events would actually happen or not. A part of Bruce was tempted to try to help, but knowing how complex world events could be he figured it would be best he not accidentally create a dystopian world by accident.

They used the day as a sort of vacation, Bruce only dealing with business matters and Clark spending the day able to save anyone as long as he did so outside Gotham. They joined the boys, after their school lessons for the day had concluded, for a light dinner. They played board games by candle light for an hour after sunset then they made their way to bed.

Bruce wondered if they would return to their time and how they would go about fixing things when, just as they reach the first steps of the main staircase the world goes blurry for a moment before sharpening once more. He turns to Clark and finds him dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but clearly just as unsure what had happened.

Before Bruce can ask, Clark was scooping him up and flying them to the family room. There, lit by fluorescent lightbulbs, was their big beautiful family. The kids were ruthlessly destroying one another at various games, some board some cards, Bruce even thought they’d managed to combine the two for an even more disastrous game.

The pair walked inside, happy to finally be home.